Cloze Test Questions for NIACL AO Prelims Exam

Directions(1-10): In the following passage some of the words have been left out, each of which is indicated by a number. Find the suitable word from the options given against each number and fill up the blanks with appropriate words to make the paragraph meaningfully complete.

A day after announcing US$ 20 billion ____(1)________ in India's largest online retailer ABC, XYZ Inc. on Monday said it will continue to grow its wholesale cash-and-carry____(2)_______, adding 100 new stores in the next five - six years. "We currently have 50 stores and plan to open 100 stores in five to six years. Plans are on track," XYZ India President and CEO Ashish Iyer said at a select media roundtable called to explain the ABC deal. XYZ Chief Executive Doug McMillon said ABC, in which the US ____(3)_________ is acquiring 77 per cent stake, would continue to operate as a separate board-managed company with co-founder Binny Bansal as the CEO. ABC gives XYZ an online presence. So far it had been handicapped by India's retail policy that does not allow _____(4)______ companies to sell directly to consumers (except in wholesale cash-and-carry segment). Companies like ABC and Snapdeal operate as e-commerce marketplaces -- a segment where 100 per cent _____(5)_______direct investment (FDI) is allowed. "As we speak, we have a pipeline of 50 stores and we expect to open five stores in the current year and then pick up pace and eventually start opening 15-20 stores a year," Iyer said. For the cash-and-carry business, XYZ currently ____(6)________ in nine states and 19 cities and the future expansion is focused on more or less the same geographies. "We are not spreading thin. We are continuing in same geographies but primarily focus is on Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana," he said. At its 21 ____(7)_____Price wholesale stores, XYZ sells everything from fast-moving consumer goods to furniture to other retailers and institutions. It could potentially use these Best Price stores as pickup and delivery points to service online sales made on ABC. ____(8)________ believe that XYZ’s investment in ABC, whose 34 per cent market share in India's online sales is ahead of rival ABC’s 27 per cent, will boost the Indian e-commerce company's logistical _____(9)______ and help it move into new areas such as online groceries. XYZ is buying 77 per cent of ABC from existing shareholders, including Japan's SoftBank, for US$ 14 billion and investing US$ 2bn of fresh equity. XYZ India is a wholly-owned ______(10)_____ of XYZ Stores Inc and offers close to 5,000 items through its cash-and-carry wholesale format.

1. (a) Demand (b) Flexibility

(c) Investment (d) Operation

(e) Equity

2. (a) Business (b) Sales

(c) Wholesale (d) Company

(e) Potential

3. (a) Marketplace (b) Retailer

(c) Expansion (d) Format

(e) Delivery

4. (a) Venture (b) Starving

(c) Gigantic (d) Overseas

(e) Expansion

5. (a) Foreign (b) Extinct

(c) Affluent (d) Trivial

(e) Institution

6. (a) Working (b) Deploying

(c) Operates (d) Penetrating

(e) Existing

7. (a) Worse (b) Best

(c) Better (d) Well

(e) Good

8. (a) Experts (b) Doctrine

(c) Implications (d) Analysts

(e) Commerce

9. (a) Activities (b) Investment

(c) Operations (d) Shareholding

(e) Potentially

10. (a) Subsidiary (b) Company

(c) Bolster (d) Holding

(e) Directly

Answers and Explanation:

1. (c)Investment The passage is talking about investment in India's largest online retailer ABC by XYZ co.

2. (a) Business As XYZ co. said it will continue to grow its wholesale cash-and-carry business. So business is the correct option.

3. (b)Retailer which means a person or business that sells goods to the public in relatively small quantities for use or consumption rather than for resale.

4. (d) Overseas Companies :A partially or wholly owned company that is part of a larger corporation with headquarters in another country.

5. (a) Foreign because this sentence is talking about Foreign Direct Investment which means an investment in a business by an investor from another country for which the foreign investor has control over the company purchased.

6. (c) Operates For the cash-and-carry business, XYZ currently operates in 9 states and 19 cities.

7. (b) Best is the correct option.

8. (d) Analyst: a person who conducts analysis.

9. (c) Operations is the right option because the sentence is talking about the XYZ co.’s logistical operations.